Computers hold a lot of files – millions of them, in fact. To be the least bit helpful, a computer has to keep track of the location of each and every one of the files it stores. To really speed up your computer, you’ll need to use something better than a modified rolodex, though!

Computers Need More Than A List Of File Names

For some users, keeping track of the file name isn’t good enough. Users, as it turns out, are terrible at remembering things… like file names. Users are better at remembering what the file contains, but a simple searchable index of file names won’t help you find content hidden inside a file. That’s where file indexing comes in. File indexing is a process whereby the computer looks at the contents of the file and makes a more detailed searchable index, based on what’s stored in a file. Users can then search files by content to find what they’re looking for.

Indexing – especially when it’s conducted for the first time – takes a lot of time. It’s one of those really good “overnight” tasks, like making backups and defragmenting the hard disk. To be worthwhile, indexing has to be done regularly. If that were left up to the user, however, indexing would never get done. Why? Indexing takes up a lot of processor time, and that means the computer has less processor power to devote to tasks that the user may be trying to complete.

If you don’t want to share your processor with the indexing function, you can disable it, either temporarily or indefinitely. Not having a file index means that your searches will be less efficient, but that may be an appropriate trade if it means freeing up valuable processor cycles.

To disable indexing in Windows XP, right-click on the C: drive and choose Properties. On the General tab at the bottom is a check-box that says “Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching.” Uncheck that, click Apply and your file indexing will be disabled until you re-enable it.

Indexing in Windows 7 is a little more intelligent. Where in XP, you only have the choice to turn indexing on or off, in Windows 7, you can decide which folders and files are indexed. To change the behavior of indexing in Windows 7, choose the Control Panel and enter Indexing Options in the search box. Select the Indexing Options control panel.

Click Advanced and then choose File Types. Enter the file extensions that belong to file types you want indexed. (e.g., .docx, .xlsx, .txt, etc.). Windows 7 will only index the file types you’ve specified. You can also control whether the file itself is indexed by its properties only, or by both its properties and its content. When you’re finished, click OK.

Your Windows 7 computer should index much faster, based on how you’ve limited it.

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A computer has to do a lot of work when it starts up. In addition to performing basic hardware checks, it also needs to load and start the operating system, then load programs and utilities that the user has selected as startup items. This last task is one area in which users can gain the advantage and speed up computer performance a bit.

Not All Applications Should Be Startup Items

Most users don’t understand that standard installation routines for programs may include actions that actually slow their computers down. If one application “volunteers” to configure itself as a startup item, the performance loss may hardly be noticeable. If five applications do the same thing, the computer’s performance may slow. If ten applications are configured to start up automatically, the computer may not have enough memory to function, depending upon what the applications are designed to do.

Aside from the applications you download and install knowingly, some applications may do things you don’t fully appreciate until you see them in action. Some “freeware packages” are good examples. Don’t get me wrong; free is good. I like free as much as the next person, but “free” often comes with a hidden cost. Some freeware programs are well behaved and do exactly what they say they do. Others try to load up your computer with spyware and other malware; toolbars and other applications that run all the time and slow your computer down. Removing or disabling these “riders” will improve your computer performance.

To find out what’s running on your computer at startup, close all of your applications and restart your computer. Without opening any applications, open the Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del. The Task Manager will provide a list of all running processes and give you the option to end a task by clicking on the task within the list and pressing End Task.

Don’t arbitrarily end a task because you don’t recognize the file name. Instead, write down the questionable file names and do a little research to find out what the file is. If it turns out to be an important system process, leave it alone. If it’s an application, reconfigure the computer to eliminate this extra baggage from the startup routine.

If you do a lot of software removal, spend a few extra minutes and run a registry cleaner like RegCure. Keeping your registry free of unnecessary lines of code will speed up your computer and improve its overall performance.

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Nothing reminds me of how fast time flies like an old, slow computer. It seems like you’ve just put them into service when suddenly, you realize that they’ve become horribly outdated. When it is time to replace a slow computer and can you prolong a computer’s service life?

Replacement Schedules Are Unique

A replacement schedule shouldn’t be a hard and fast rule, unless you’ve got a real reason to stick to one. It used to be that a good rule of thumb was about five years. If your computer was still in service five years after you first deployed it, then it was probably time to replace. Today, computers seem to age a little better, but in some cases, five years is far too long to hang onto an old piece of equipment.

One of the chief complaints about old computers is their performance speed. Slow seems to be the watchword of the day. “Slow” can be caused by a lot of things. As such, there are some approaches you can take to prolong your computer’s lifespan.

Laptops age much less gracefully than desktop computers do. The first question to ask yourself is whether you’re dealing with a laptop. If so, a five-year replacement cycle is likely to be too long. Laptops typically use older processors, slower internal communications speeds, smaller complements of memory and smaller hard drives. They also go through batteries at the rate of about one per year. Under these circumstances, a five-year-old laptop becomes a distant cousin to a medieval torture device.

If you are working with a desktop computer and your tasks are limited largely to Web browsing and basic word processing, you can go much longer without having to replace the computer. You might consider upgrades like more memory, a faster processor, a larger hard drive or even a better network card. Routine maintenance like disk defragmenting and registry cleaning can also improve the performance of an older computer.

If you’re doing very graphics-oriented work – graphic design, photo editing, engineering or gaming – then you’ll want to put your computer on an accelerated replacement cycle. If you load new software frequently, check the manufacturer’s recommendations carefully to make sure your system complies with the hardware requirements. When you start seeing software on the shelf that demands more than your computer can provide, that’s the time to decide whether to upgrade or replace!

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There are an infinite number of things that will cause a slow computer, not the least of which are hardware and software incompatibilities. When people upgrade their computers, they often assume that their older hardware will work with newer software and vice versa. Few things could be farther from the truth.

Always Check Hardware Compatibility

Don’t dismiss the notion that your computer is slow because you’ve got mismatched hardware or mismatched hardware and software. These incompatibilities exist and can cause serious performance deficits.

Before you upgrade your computer or replace a piece of hardware, check the processor, memory and operating system requirements carefully. Also check to make sure that you’ll have working drivers for your operating system. Manufacturers don’t always go back and write drivers for older operating systems, so you can’t assume that the new device will work on your old computer.

Before you upgrade, check the memory requirements for your operating system, applications and hardware devices. If you’re trying to skimp along on the minimum recommended RAM, you’re almost guaranteeing yourself poor computer performance. Rather than making your upgrade a multi-step process with a lot of troubleshooting thrown in, consider upping your complement of installed memory.

Before you upgrade, check the video requirements for your device. Some devices or software applications have specific video requirements in terms of video memory, version numbers and graphics processing power. In addition, you may need to upgrade your video driver to make your computer run more smoothly. This is especially true of gaming applications and other graphics-intensive programs like drawing, photo editing and design software.

Before you upgrade (especially an OS), check the hardware compatibility for all of your old equipment. If you plan to use the old peripheral equipment but it’s unsupported by your new OS, your chances of getting a happy result are minimal. You may either have to postpone your upgrade or replace older hardware sooner than you had planned to.

If you’re planning to purchase a USB device, check the port speed requirements. Newer devices require USB 2.0 ports to perform well. Older, slower USB ports may cause your applications to hang or prevent your device from being recognized or accessed properly. In this case, you may have to upgrade your USB ports or choose a less finicky device that will work on older, slower USB ports.

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Anti-virus software programs are a necessity in today’s computing environment. No user should be without active anti-virus protection. That having been said, there is a performance cost to running anti-virus software. Indeed, your computer will take more time to complete certain functions; starting up is a good example of where you will experience a noticeably slow computer.

A/V: A Diminishing Return

With anti-virus software, you can be over-protected. That’s a nice way of saying that you shouldn’t have more than one anti-virus program installed at any given time. To be sure, some AV programs have advantages over others. Some are updated more frequently; others are better at detecting obscure infections. Others provide a balance of good protection at a reasonable cost.

What you don’t want is competition on your system. Anti-virus programs, by their nature, examine the activities of other programs. More than that, they limit the activities of other programs, including other anti-virus programs you may have installed.

AV programs compete for access to the same resources and can throw up unnecessary warnings, cause conflicts and crash the system when confronted with another AV program that is scanning the computer. Some AV programs make nice with each other, so these dire results aren’t always a foregone conclusion. Some users rely on two or even three AV programs that run simultaneously to protect the system.

AV software may work pleasantly in conjunction with a firewall, but throw in an extra measure of protection and you could be in a very slow world of hurt. The rule of thumb is that you should choose one AV program and one firewall program to protect your computer from malware and possible intrusions. Test your protective software for compatibility and if you find a good match, stick with it.

If you find that your combination has produced an unacceptably slow computer, switch out the test components one at a time. You may find that certain firewall/AV combinations don’t work well together, while others produce a perfectly harmonious result. Ultimately, the combination you choose should be one that provides good detection of viruses, as well as good prevention.

Also, don’t assume that firewalls come configured for your system right out of the box. Simply installing a firewall does not always equal protection. Frequently, their default state is either “minimal” protection or “off,” so make sure your firewall is actually configured to do something useful once you have it installed.

Finding a combination of AV and firewall protection that works well together doesn’t mean you can never change your protective software suite. Just don’t expect exceptional results from combined software suites that are designed to interfere with other software on the same computer!

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